LIVE REVIEW: DEPECHE MODE, SAN SIRO, MILAN, 27 JUNE 2017

As well as being a football stadium I've always wanted to visit, a Depeche gig at the San Siro is a must see. I wasn't able to go this time, but Ana Soto was and this is her review of the gig. Ana is a hardcore Depeche fan from Mexico City who travels all over to see the band as well as running the wonderful Mexican fan site depechemode.mx. Check our their Facebook page here. Thanks very much to Ana for this brilliant review and for the wonderful videos. Reading this makes me feel like I was at the show AND makes me very jealous.

Picture courtesy of Depehce Mode Classic Photos And Videos Facebook Group

Everything Counts In One Of The Largest Stadiums: 

Depeche Mode at San Siro 

Finally a concert where the weather gods are in our side: no more heavy rain nor the hottest night ever. 

That really changes everything in a show: in Berlin and Rome I saw many people leaving their privileged places close to the stage because they couldn’t stand anymore the storm or the suffocating heat. 

But Milan is different, everybody is happy, clapping and really excited to see Depeche Mode, nobody looks tired, they are just waiting eagerly. They are a great crowd even before the show starts. 

And the audience is even better as soon as Going Backwards begins. Not just that, even the sound and the acoustics are much better tonight, really strong and powerful, with Dave Gahan’s voice sounding huge in every corner of the ground.

“Good evening Milano!” yells Dave and the fans go nuts. Everybody is singing every song. It doesn’t matter if is new or old, everyone sings every word. The choruses especially sound amazing in unison. 

During A Pain That I’m Used To Dave almost hits himself on the head with Gordeno’s bass, but nothing bad happens and he just dances around as usual. Then comes In Your Room and, unlike at previous gigs, the singer awaits for Eigner’s cue to start and doesn't mess it up. Well done - everything is fine again with the problematic song. 

The grandstands are slightly illuminated at the end of World In My Eyes and the band can fully appreciate their fans' excited yelling. It is in that moment when a girl next to me shows her friend that her cheeks are starting to hurt just because she cannot stop smiling. And I could guess that her hands were in pain too, cause she couldn’t stop clapping either. 

When Martin Gore sings A Question Of Lust, there is some kind of a respectful silence, just to hear him, which is broken in the middle of the song with a huge ovation. Martin smiles and his eyes are bright in proud. What a beautiful moment!

Then another great moment in Where’s The Revolution. Dave’s voice is echoing all around the stadium, he comes to edge of the stage and for a second his hand seems to touch an imaginary beard. At that point many fans actually cover their faces with paper beards, imitating Depeche Mode's role as Russian revolutionaries in their video. 

When Dave arrives on the catwalk during Everything Counts, someone shows a sign asking him to take the vest off, but not even the extremely hot temperature in Rome was enough for us to see a half naked Gahan dancing around like in the old times.

Enjoy The Silence makes everybody jump around and dance overjoyed. At the end of the song everybody sings along and Dave exclaims: “Beautiful!”

The high point of the show is Never Let Me Down Again. It is just amazing to see the people in the l seats literally flying high, standing and waving their hands in the top of the stadium. 

At the end of the song, it is impossible not to laugh when the third shot of the t-shirt cannon doesn't work and Dave hits the cannon a little just trying to fix it. 

After the short break, Martin comes back smiling and saying “Thank you!”, then Somebody is played, the perfect soundtrack for some couples who start kissing each other. 

And then a little mistake that makes everybody yells overexcited: It’s No Good is written on the screen, and for a moment we think we are about to hear a new song on this tour. But  sadly not, as Walking In My Shoes comes on as usual just without the projection, that means tonight the screen is no good ;) 

“We have a new thing” said Dave in Berlin when the fans chanted that new chorus for Walking In My Shoes (but the greatest chanting of this was in Hannover second night!), sadly here in Milan, Gahan said: “Very nice, but lets save it for the next time”.

But we forget about it when Personal Jesus starts, telling us that it is the end of the show. We savour everything until the last minute, until Flecth, Martin and Dave come to our corner to wave their hands and say goodbye. 

On a personal level, I must say this has been the best show since Frankfurt, which was amazing. I am very glad to have been here this night in Milan with these awesome fans. 

Ana Soto

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Thank you Ana!